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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27535387">A Time When Chise Thought She Was Strange, and The Day She Found Out Being Strange was Okay</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadifura/pseuds/sadifura'>sadifura</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Princess Principal (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Autism, Autism Spectrum, Found Family, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:10:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,321</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27535387</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadifura/pseuds/sadifura</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chise feels out of place. Not just in this country, but in socializing itself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Time When Chise Thought She Was Strange, and The Day She Found Out Being Strange was Okay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>AUTISTIC CHISE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO</p><p>also motherly dorothy because mother hen dorothy Good</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chise didn’t understand why you had to look people in the eye in Albion.</p><p>In Japan, one did not have to look others in the eye to determine what they were feeling. As a Japanese girl and a spy, she just sensed the “honne” and “tatemae” in the room, the feelings of the wishes expressed and the wishes not expressed.</p><p>Sure, she was almost always wrong when guessing others’ true intentions. After all, she didn’t expect that her own father would turn turncoat and betray Japan. She never knew her loving, kind father that would make the owies go away would make her owies multiply infinitely. She never knew why she had to kill him, why he had to die.</p><p>Why it couldn’t have been her that took his place.</p><p>---</p><p>There were times when Chise didn’t understand what her peers were saying. Sure, she knew English. Sure, she was fluent, almost like a native speaker. But her peers spoke of different things than she understood, things that she could never be interested in.</p><p>And when you’re a spy, as well as a social reject, you have to gather intel; intel to make sure you understand what people are saying, and intel to make sure you are liked, liked for what you say or do.</p><p>“Oh, wonderful! I got an invitation to Anne-Marie’s Sunday promenade!” the girl two seats behind her cried out as they were all waiting for the teacher to come in.</p><p>“Oh, Marietta, you lucky dog! Anne-Marie is the most popular girl I know in Albion, save for the Princess! You ought to be celebrating! Oh, we’ve got to pick out dresses!”</p><p>Dorothy has told her many things on socializing; wait until two people are finished with a conversation until you join in, say something related to the conversation, and most importantly, be yourself. </p><p>She did not know why the “be yourself” rule was needed, of course. She was a spy, she was not supposed to be “herself”; she was supposed to be chameleonic, fluid and shifting like water and air.</p><p>It mattered not, though. I need to learn, she tells herself, to make friends.</p><p>“Ah, are dogs lucky in your culture? In Japan, we have something called a Maneki-neko, which brings good luck to whoever owns it--”</p><p>It was then when she noticed the girls glaring at her.</p><p>When were they glaring? What made them glare? Was it something she said? She thought it was perfectly appropriate. They were talking about creatures that bring them luck in their culture, so she thought she’d share what brings luck in hers.</p><p>“Oh, you’re the new kid. Sorry, we weren’t talking to you. We were just talking about something else. Something you wouldn’t understand.”</p><p>They turned their gazes towards each other again and began chittering and chattering about things that didn’t make sense again.</p><p>Somehow, Chise felt an acute pain; she couldn’t tell if it was loneliness or rejection.</p><p>Maybe, Chise thought, I’m different from them in an alien way.</p><p>Maybe, she thought, I am actually the one from the Black Lizard Planet.</p><p>---</p><p>“Hey, Dorothy-san,” Chise asked, her and Dorothy being the only ones there, “am I...queer?”</p><p>“Queer? Isn’t that what they call the people who hang out in molly houses and crossdress? I don’t suppose you do that, do you?”</p><p>Chise blushed, anxious, not even understanding the reference. Dorothy, who spoke in idioms and similes and metaphors and analogies, was someone she could never begin to understand.</p><p>“I-I do not do such things! Such things would be improper conduct for---”</p><p>“For a student, but us spies can do anything we want, right?” Dorothy looked over at the normally stoic Chise to see that tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.</p><p>“Now, was my joke about crossdressing too risque for you? Or was it me insinuating you had a persuasion towards women that upset you?”</p><p>Chise drank her tea and gulped it down like Dorothy guzzled down her wine. “I...I think I am strange in a peculiar, bizarre way that irrevocably damages me.”</p><p>Dorothy looked at her with sympathy. In her unusual Chise-speak, she was probably saying “I feel strange,” or “none of the other girls that aren’t us spies like me”.</p><p>“Is that what’s the matter, Chise? C’mon, the Roaming Penguins love you just fine.”</p><p>Chise sniffled, trying to hold back her tears. She raised her hand to her heart. </p><p>“Owie, owie, go away. Owie, owie, go away. Owie, owie, go a---way!”</p><p>And the dam burst.</p><p>“Chise, what are you going on about?”</p><p>Chise looked up at Dorothy as she was sobbing into her chest.</p><p>“I-I do not understand anyone! I cannot interact with anyone in class on a fundamental level! I cannot understand anyone! The closest I can get to understanding is you guys, but I feel like I am out of sync with every one of you! I know if we weren’t all spies, you would all reject me! You would all tease me like I am some defective object! And the worst part is, I know I’m a defective object, and I can’t stop myself from being one!” </p><p>Dorothy lifted Chise’s face to her eyes. </p><p>“Listen,” she said, “I’m going to tell you two things. One, never call yourself a defect. You are not only an asset to our spy team, but a great, loyal, intelligent friend that I would never abandon in years. I am not like your father who would just betray you any way he’d like. We are the Roaming Penguins, and as long as we’re on Operation Changeling, we’ll remain together for the end of time. And two, you are not a defect because you, like all of us, are inherently valuable. As long as your body remains on this earth, you will continue to have value, because I truly believe you do.”</p><p>Chise sniffled. “Yes! I-I believe you! But...don’t you still think I’m strange?”</p><p>Dorothy let out something between a chuckle and a snort. “Hah! Strange? You’re pretty odd, sure, but the rest of us are just as crazy as you! I’m a full blown alcoholic honey trap who lures men in with my breasts, Ange is a chronic liar who claims to be from the Black Lizard Planet, Beatrice has trust issues and a mechanical voice box that can change her voice at will, and Princess...well, you wouldn’t a expect the princess of the Kingdom of Albion to defect to the Commonwealth, would you?”</p><p>Chise began to protest. “B-but! I cannot interact with any of the girls in my classroom! I do not understand them! All they talk about is boys, and promenades, and dances, and social gatherings, and--”</p><p>Dorothy put her hands on Chise’s shoulders. “Listen. I’m 20, I don’t give a crap about what half the girls in these classes say. All that comes out of their mouth is a constant stream of nonsense and I frankly don’t understand what they’re saying half the time. And it’s okay for you to feel that way, too, Chise.”</p><p>Chise calmed herself, feeling herself less anxious and more at ease. “You mean--you mean I’m normal, Dorothy-san?”</p><p>Dorothy let out a loud laugh. “Course not! You can’t be normal and be a spy for the Commonwealth! But you know what Chise?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“You don’t have to be normal. Normal is overrated, and you can just be yourself for the rest of your life.”</p><p>“Even if I do not understand anyone in my class? And even if people still make fun of me?”</p><p>“Even if you don’t understand anyone in your class.”</p><p>Chise then began to lay on Dorothy’s shoulder.</p><p>“Thank you, Dorothy-san,” Chise said, slowly finding herself drifting off, “the owie in my chest...it has gone away.”</p><p>As Dorothy felt Chise’s head droop further, down to her chest and down to her legs, she smiled.</p><p>“The Roaming Penguins...and I’m truly their mother hen.”</p>
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